High winds. Cloudy. Areas of rain, easing to isolated showers during the evening.

Mina emails her sister

Hi, Lucy. SO how does it feel to be a fiancée? All that money and a McMansion with views of Buckley Falls. How’s Arthur’s mum? Recovered from the shock of catching her doting boy up your virginal white nightdress?

Work is boring. If I have to type up another medical report I’ll go crazy. I should have gone to uni and made John take care of little Quincey. But no, John gets to travel the world, digging up dusty old shit for museums.

Did you hear about the baby missing from Toddler Tots day care? Some domestic, I bet. Bit of a worry how they got in, though. The staff probably left a side door open. I’m glad Qunicey isn’t at that day care. Poor thing. I forgot to put his gumboots in his backpack. He’ll be covered in mud when I pick him up tonight. X

Mina switches on the TV to watch the Six o’clock News

Breaking news: Geelong residents are warned to keep a watch out for any suspicious activity. Another two toddlers were abducted today. One snatched from a trolley at a Newtown supermarket car park, and another taken from their car seat at a Geelong North petrol station. Police believe these are random attacks. The ferocious weather is hindering the investigation. Witnesses at both abduction sights described seeing a hostile, raven-haired woman of Eastern European appearance lurking near the scene.

Mina posts on Facebook

Has anyone seen the news? Scary. What does everyone think? Should I drop off Quincey at day care tomorrow? Chopped liver tonight, here’s a picture. It’s all in the presentation, girls!

Mina texts Lucy

Holy crap. At day care to pick up Q and the cops are here.

Snapchat photo sent to Mina’s Smart Phone

Image of a mauled child in a puddle of blood wearing one blue gumboot. Gravestones litter the background. The image lasts ten seconds before disappearing.

Lucy texts Mina

Come home. It’s dark outside and you’re on foot. Let the police do their job.

Mina makes a rambling phone call to Lucy

Lucy, I have to find him. It’s so wet. Quincey doesn’t have a parka on. The power’s out all over town, too. He’s scared of the dark. The moonlight’s not enough. Have they been to all the churches? The cops, I mean. There’s an old monastery back of Lovely Banks. Have they checked there? The thunder and lightening won’t let up. Quincey needs his blankie. I can’t stop trembling. The rain is deafening. This isn’t happening. Oh god, the stench. I’m at the wrought iron gates. I see something red in the mist. It’s got…

Lucy texts John and Arthur

The monastery. Hurry.

John posts on Facebook

HELP. Mina’s found the monster that took our boy. She’s at the abandoned monastery. The hunt is on for anyone who has a weapon. Let’s murder this baby-bashing bitch.

Snapchat photo sent to John’s Smart Phone

Image of Mina in a coffin shaped dungeon with rusty bars. Her work shirt is torn and breasts exposed. Her dark hair is nailed into the crumbling stonewall in the design of a crucifix. Either side of her are flaming torches made from wood and straw. A trickle of blood runs down her pale face. A five-pointed star within a circle is painted in blood behind her. The image lasts a minute before disappearing.

Lucy films the scene on her Smart Phone

The wind roars. The shadowy façade of the monastery resembles a screaming woman. Pine trees surround the property, creaking and swaying. Gargoyles loom outwards from the slate roof. Mist rises from the rain-drenched ground. Trapped in the barn, crows caw like dying children. Lightning strikes and a dark figure hunches in a cloistered doorway in front of the monastery. The men shine their torches on her. A dagger is in her hand. The creature parts her voluptuous ruby lips and smiles, flashing a mouthful of metallic razor teeth. Puss oozes out a tennis ball sized wound on her neck. The rest of her cruel body is flawless. Several men stare at her enormous breasts. She exposes one of her athletic legs through a slit in her overcoat and laughs. The sound is blood curdling.

The camera wobbles and frail sounding Lucy calls out, ‘Mina.’

John shakes his head, flicking rainwater from his eyes. He holds up a golf club and charges the creature. He slips. The creature throws him into a pile of broken headstones. John drops his club and staggers. At his feet is a streak of white. He picks up a bone and howls like a wolf with a fetid gut. In his other hand is a child’s blue gumboot.

Lightning and thunder strike at the same time. Several more carloads of men arrive brandishing drills, cricket bats and hammers. In the waning moonlight the men charge the creature. John joins them. The camera goes in for a better view. The only audible noise is Lucy’s shrieks of hysterical terror.

All images blur as the camera shuffles and falls to the ground. Lucy’s screams cease.

John posts on Facebook

Thanks to everyone for their kind words of condolence. Quincey and Lucy were brave, heavenly souls. And bless my sweet, loving Mina who is on the mend.

In hospital Mina opens a web page for the Geelong Daily on her iPad

The Monster is Dead

Vigilantes destroy inhuman foe. The group called ‘the righteous society of men’ includes the father of Quincey Harker and fiancé of Lucy Westenra, who were violently mauled to death by the evil man-destroying creature. Sleepy Hollow residents are indebted to their protectors for curing our fair city of this cursed filth. Meetings held at St Mary’s church on Thursdays at 7pm. New members welcome.

Snapchat photo sent to everyone with a phone in Geelong

Image of the creature with her face bashed in, jaw broken, clothing torn and a football sized rock lodged halfway into her mouth. The image never disappears.

***

Natasha Sampson is a Deakin University student. She has poetry published in several anthologies. Her short story, ‘Three Men in a Lift’ received a Highly Commended in the 2011 Scribes Writers competition and was published in Azuria #1. Most recently, two of her short stories received second place in the Geelong Writers 2013 Writing Competition.